A Beijing park has implemented high-tech toilet paper dispensers in a bid to reduce the amount of paper used or taken home by the public.

The Temple of Heaven park, which is a popular attraction in Beijing, began dispensing free toilet paper in 2007. Earlier this month, Chinese media reported that large amounts of paper was being taken home by visitors to the park's toilets, with some individuals stuffing it into their bags to take away.

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The authorities' answer to the problem has been to implement electronic toilet paper dispensers which distribute a fixed amount to each guest.

The dispensers, which are being used in a half-month trial, scan each user's face and then return 60 to 70 cm of toilet paper.

The same person is then unable to receive another batch of paper until nine minutes have passed.

Of course, nature sometimes complicates a loo break, and so the existing dispensers have not been removed during the trial. Staff are also on hand to explain the new dispensers to guests.

"If we encounter guests who have diarrhoea or any other situation in which they urgently require toilet paper, then our staff on the ground will directly provide the toilet paper," a park spokesman told Beijing Wanbao.

Apparently the amount of paper used in the toilets has gone down by 20% in the trial.

But the experiment hasn't been without its problems as some visitors have reported waiting as long as 30 seconds for a successful face scan when the process should take just three, while other reports say that two of the machines installed broke down over the weekend.

The futuristic solution has apparently made the Temple of Heaven park toilets an attraction in their own right.